Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports is reporting that second baseman Dustin Pedroia and the Red Sox are discussing a contract extension “somewhere in the vicinity of” six years and $100 million. Pedroia, who turns 30 on August 17, has been one of the best second basemen in baseball this season and the Red Sox want to make sure they retain his services beyond 2015. His current contract includes a $10 million salary for 2014 and an $11 million club option with a $500,000 buyout for 2015. Passan writes that whether the extension would usurp those two years of his current contract remains a point of negotiation.

More from Passan:

After tabling discussions on an extension during spring training, the Red Sox and Pedroia’s representatives picked up talks during the All-Star break, sources said. They’re expected to continue discussions as the Red Sox look to bolster their pitching staff via trades for a run at winning the American League East, which they lead over the Rays by 2½ games.

Pedroia has been worth 4.7 wins above a replacement-level player according to Baseball Reference, nearly matching his output for all of 2012 (4.9). Over 162 games, he is on pace for 7.8, which would nearly match his 2011 output when he finished in the top-ten in AL MVP voting. There is some concern, however, about Pedroia’s lack of power — he has hit only six home runs and his current .436 slugging percentage would be a career low.

The Cardinals have always emphasized building from within. In the 2016-17 offseason, however, they may end up being one of the bigger free agent buyers. At least according to some informed speculation.

The Cardinals are already losing their first round pick due to the Fowler signing, so any other top free agent won’t cost them more than the money he’s owed. And as far as money goes, the Cardinals have a great deal of it, despite being a small market team. They have a billion dollar TV deal coming online and Matt Holliday and Jaime Garcia are off the payroll now. Spending big on a free agent or three would not cripple them or anything.

Encarnacion or Trumbo would be first baseman, which wold fly in the face of the Cards’ move of Matt Carpenter to first base (and, at least as far as Encarnacion goes, would fly in the face of good defense). Getting either of them would push Carpenter back to second, displacing Kolten Wong, or over to third, displacing Jhonny Peralta. If you’re going to do that, I’d say that Turner would make more sense, but what do I know?

Either way, the Cardinals may be entering a pretty interesting phase of their offseason now. And an unfamiliar one as, quite possibly, the top free agent buyer on the market.

There is literally nothing you could tell me that the incoming administration is considering which would shock me anymore. As such, I saw this story when I woke up this morning, blinked once, took a sip of coffee, closed the browser window and just went on with my morning, as desensitized as a wisdom tooth about to be yanked.

Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports that Former Red Sox, Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine is on a short-list of candidates for the job of United States Ambassador to Japan:

The 66-year-old, who currently serves as Sacred Heart University’s athletics director, has engaged in preliminary discussions with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team regarding the position.

Valentine managed the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons, leading the team to a championship in 2005. He also knows the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, as both went to USC. Assuming championship teams meet the country’s leader in Japan like they do in the United States, Valentine has at least twice the amount of experience with top political leaders than does, say, Ned Yost, so that’s something.

The former manager, more importantly, is friends with Donald Trump’s brother, with the two of them going way back. Which, given how this transition is going, seems like a far more important set of qualifications than anything else on this list.